Editorial: Closure elusive in Moxley case

Published 7:58 pm, Thursday, October 24, 2013

Almost 16 years passed -- longer than the length of her life -- when Greenwich Time and The Advocate published an investigation in 1991 seeking possible answers that surfaced the Skakel family's possible involvement in the case.

In the months and years after that story, police reopened their investigation, books were written about the case and the Skakel family shielded itself with lawyers. It would take another nine years for Michael Skakel to be indicted on charges of killing his next-door neighbor. Each development was another shock wave in the case, but none thundered as loudly as Skakel's conviction of the crime on June 7, 2002.

For the past 11 years, it has not been uncommon for our readers to complain that they were weary of hearing about the case. But the Skakel family has fought passionately for Michael Skakel's freedom, while Dorthy Moxley has been resolute in her commitment to guard her daughter's memory.

Even the most jaded observers expressed awe at the news Wednesday that Michael Skakel has been granted a new trial. Once again, resolution to this mystery has been postponed.

There will be more legal maneuverings from the family and the State's Attorney's office on next steps. The state plans to appeal a judge's determination that Skakel's former lawyer, Mickey Sherman, did not provide a proper defense.

We're not experts -- and no turn in this saga has been predictable -- but we would prefer that the state see the case through. Martha Moxley deserves that much. And if he is innocent, Michael Skakel should have his name cleared in a public arena.

But we have to brace for the likelihood that the state will eventually fold its cards. Skakel has, after all, already served more than 11 years in prison for a crime committed when he was a boy.

Wednesday will be the 38th anniversary of Martha Moxley's brutal murder. All those years in between have turned this into an American tragedy that extends beyond two families that were once neighbors. It now turns out that Martha may be denied justice after all. Her mystery may never be solved. But her loss is still deeply felt.